RIP Beetle

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2003-06-07 10:16am

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2969734.stm

Still better than the new one I reckon, my dad used to have a yellow then a cream one.

Post by **Ghost Rider** » 2003-06-07 11:28am

BUT THEY'RE KEEP MAKING THE NEW ONE?!

Goddamit is there nothin sacred...

And for the record it's not that I love the old one...it's I despise the new one.

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2003-06-07 11:41am

Wait, they were still making the old one?!

Stormbringer · Post by **Stormbringer** » 2003-06-07 01:31pm

DPDarkPrimus wrote:Wait, they were still making the old one?!

Oh yeah. Those things make up a quarter of all vehicles on the road in Mexico. And if I remember right there are still Mexican companies making them under license. The Bug just won't die.

Post by **LadyTevar** » 2003-06-07 02:57pm

Let's go to Mexico and buy one!

Andrew J. · Post by **Andrew J.** » 2003-06-07 05:42pm

The Beetle is dead! Long live the Beetle!

But seriously, why does everyone hate the New Beetle so much?

Post by **Dalton** » 2003-06-07 06:06pm

Andrew J. wrote:The Beetle is dead! Long live the Beetle!

But seriously, why does everyone hate the New Beetle so much?

I drove one once. The pedals and size 15 boots do not match.

Post by **Gandalf** » 2003-06-07 10:58pm

Damn them. I love beetles. The new ones look like they tried to be modern, and they in turn, ruined a great looking car.

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2003-06-08 12:35am

Dalton wrote:
Andrew J. wrote:The Beetle is dead! Long live the Beetle!

But seriously, why does everyone hate the New Beetle so much?
I drove one once. The pedals and size 15 boots do not match.

Maybe if you weren't so... tall?

Post by **Gandalf** » 2003-06-08 12:37am

DPDarkPrimus wrote:
Dalton wrote:
Andrew J. wrote:The Beetle is dead! Long live the Beetle!

But seriously, why does everyone hate the New Beetle so much?
I drove one once. The pedals and size 15 boots do not match.
Maybe if you weren't so... tall?

I'm picturing someone driving down the street with his head out the sunroof.

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2003-06-08 01:45am

Stormbringer wrote:
Oh yeah. Those things make up a quarter of all vehicles on the road in Mexico. And if I remember right there are still Mexican companies making them under license. The Bug just won't die.

The Führer would be proud

Peregrin Toker · Post by **Peregrin Toker** » 2003-06-08 03:25am

Sea Skimmer wrote:
Stormbringer wrote:
Oh yeah. Those things make up a quarter of all vehicles on the road in Mexico. And if I remember right there are still Mexican companies making them under license. The Bug just won't die.
The Führer would be proud

Funnily enough, most Neo-Nazis hate Mexicans. Except for those Neo-Nazis which happen to be Mexican.

But regardless of what those Neo Nazi Nutfucks say, the Mexicans deserve credit for keeping an automobile icon alive! VIVA MEXICO!

BBC News wrote:The Walt Disney Corporation's "Love Bug" films cemented its popularity in the 1970s, helping push total sales up to 21 million.

Disney's movies about Herbie The Lovebug pushed sales for the VW Type 1?? I wonder if "Dukes Of Hazzard" did similar things for used Dodge Chargers and whether "Knightrider" also pushed up sales of the Pontiac Firebird.

Crayz9000 · Post by **Crayz9000** » 2003-06-08 03:30am

Gandalf wrote:I'm picturing someone driving down the street with his head out the sunroof.

I've always wondered how they fit people into Mini Coopers. Do they have to use a shoehorn?

Post by **Gandalf** » 2003-06-08 03:34am

Crayz9000 wrote:
Gandalf wrote:I'm picturing someone driving down the street with his head out the sunroof.
I've always wondered how they fit people into Mini Coopers. Do they have to use a shoehorn?

A crack team of clowns train them.

Post by **Vympel** » 2003-06-08 04:24am

I hate Beetles. Good riddance to those dinky little POS.

Post by **Gandalf** » 2003-06-08 04:30am

Vympel wrote:I hate Beetles. Good riddance to those dinky little POS.

What's wrong with beetles?

Cpt_Frank · Post by **Cpt_Frank** » 2003-06-08 04:49am

I miss them. When I was a kid the streets were still full of them, but nowadays you rarely see one. They've all been replaced by modern cars with absolutely no character.

SAMAS · Post by **SAMAS** » 2003-06-08 12:26pm

Now what is Bumblebee gonna transform into?

Post by **Dalton** » 2003-06-08 12:38pm

Simon H.Johansen wrote:Disney's movies about Herbie The Lovebug pushed sales for the VW Type 1?? I wonder if "Dukes Of Hazzard" did similar things for used Dodge Chargers and whether "Knightrider" also pushed up sales of the Pontiac Firebird.

Pontiac actually got a bunch of requests for KITT-based models

Post by **Vympel** » 2003-06-08 12:43pm

Gandalf wrote:
What's wrong with beetles?

Too small, dinky, no class, no panache.

Post by **Dalton** » 2003-06-08 12:50pm

Gandalf wrote:
DPDarkPrimus wrote:
Dalton wrote:I drove one once. The pedals and size 15 boots do not match.
Maybe if you weren't so... tall?
I'm picturing someone driving down the street with his head out the sunroof.

This is why I prefer two-door midsize.

Post by **Ghost Rider** » 2003-06-08 12:53pm

Vympel wrote:
Gandalf wrote:
What's wrong with beetles?
Too small, dinky, no class, no panache.

True...fits more for the second one then the first...but very true.

EmperorChrostas the Cruel · Post by **EmperorChrostas the Cruel** » 2003-06-08 04:18pm

The Beatle was awesome for it's time, but the fudamental design is 50 years old. The beatle was the first cheap car you could by, that wasn't cheap! Beatles had the better reliability than Cadilac. They were a minimalists commuter corpusles. Anyone remember the VW commercial, (I date myself with this) "Two pennies a mile, two pennies a mile"? (Done in a mock Paul Revere fasion)They were so ugly they were cool. The sheer FUNCTIONALITY was it's strongest point.Cheapness it's strongest selling point. (Cadilac quality, at VW price.)Reliability got it's loyalty.

Now the bad. They were very unsafe, in windy roads. They were very UNcrashworthy. Seatbelt bolt would rip through their holes, seats rip loose, and the crushability factor was intence. The pancake air cooled 4 banger was under powered, and unable to be upgraded to meet modern polution controles. The REAL reason they stoped making them in non third word counties!
They kept making them in counties that they could pass the emmisions standards. Mexico, and Brazil.

Don't even get me started on the micro(death)bus.

Modern cars now last so long, get so much better of every important thing, they only lose to the Beatle in cost. Since you can't sell a car in the civilized world that won't pass the smog check, (brazil and Mexico have tightened their laws in such) no one can legaly buy them new any more. The black market isn't big enough to sustain the needed factories.

Don't diss the Beatle. For it's time, it was something special, that changed the way cars were made. Think of it as WWII tech. It was so good, it lasted so long. But all good things...

Take heart, as there are so many aftermarket OEM parts, new/old stock, (never sold, but 10 years of shelf life experienced) hi perf replacement parts, and counterfit parts, that the Beatle may not be gone for 10/20 more years.

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2003-06-08 06:54pm

Gandalf wrote:
DPDarkPrimus wrote:
Maybe if you weren't so... tall?
I'm picturing someone driving down the street with his head out the sunroof.

This reminds me of the Simpson's 27? Short stories about Springfield episode

NapoleonGH · Post by **NapoleonGH** » 2003-06-08 10:39pm

i seem to remember the best quality of the beetle being said to be its ability to tackle mountain roads with fewer problems than water cooled cars, this the case or is my memory shit?

also i seem to recall that the beetle still holds the record for best 0-5mph accelleration, if this is the case, then saying it is underpowered doesnt sound right, what am i missing?